1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit board clamping assembly for removably retaining a circuit board in a circuit board mounting box.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
A clamping assembly for printed circuit boards, which forces the printed circuit board against a guide within a mounting box has already been described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,891, issued to R. A. Mogle.
The device shown in the Mogle patent contains a cam cylinder controlled by a lever type handle. After sliding the printed circuit board assembly into a pair of guides located in the mounting box, the lever type handle is turned, thereby rotating the cam cylinder. The rotation of the cylinder has the effect of compressing a spring located below the cylinder and putting axial pressure on a number of roller members located below the spring. The pressure on the roller members forces them to push outwardly (laterally) on a pressure retaining plate located on the side of the roller, thereby forcing the plate into intimate contact with the walls of the frame guide. Rotation of the cam cylinder in the opposite direction has the effect of removing the compression on the spring thereby reducing the pressure on the roller members and pressure retainer plate and allowing the assembly to be removed from the mounting box.
Although the Mogle device performs a similar function as the instant invention, it contains a greater number of components and involves a much more complicated operation .
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, relatively inexpensive and easily manufactured circuit module, clamping, retaining and extracting system.
A further object is to provide a means to exert higher clamping forces so as to insure a better thermal interface between the circuit board and an adjacent heat sink section of the circuit board mounting frame.
It is a further object to provide a latching means including a handle that requires only a 180.degree. rotation to provide the high clamping force that secures the circuit board to the main frame.
An additional object is to utilize the self contained handle as levers against an adjacent unit surface to provide the means to extract the circuit board from the mounting frame or mounting box.